The Lord of the Rings: What New Games Should Cover from Tolkien


Fans of Middle-Earth have a lot to be excited about with the news of Warner Bros. Discovery and New Line working together to make new movies based on The Lord of the Rings series. What those films will be or who will be directing them is anybody’s guess for now, but that doesn’t mean Middle-Earth won’t be making an impact anywhere else. Embracer Group has confirmed to have new video games based on the Tolkien series on the way, with a few coming out within the next few years. But could we see more beyond that with new Lord of the Rings films getting made? Things might be getting ready to explode in Middle-Earth very soon.

Currently, Embracer is set to release five new games in collaboration with third-party companies within the next 24 months. This includes Lord of the Rings: Gollum, LOTR: Return to Moria, Heroes of Middle-Earth, and an untitled game being made with GTA company Take-Two. These projects were already in development before the Warner Bros. Discovery news broke out. So as new movies are made, could Embracer Group look to have other games put into development afterward? Here are a few ideas of what we would like to see video games finally tackle within Middle-Earth.

The Fourth Age – The Aftermath

The ending of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in Tolkien’s world marks the end of the Third Age and the beginning of the Fourth Age. While there was some downtime in the wake of Sauron’s defeat, J.R.R. Tolkien did begin making a new story that was a follow-up to his epic story, which was titled “The New Shadow”. This story was set around 120 years after the fall of Sauron. While he didn’t get to finish that story, he only wrote 13 pages, a new game can continue onward from where Tolkien had started. What happened after the war of the ring?

Much like what was done with Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, elements of what Tolkien wrote can be explored and expanded upon, with a basis on the previous lore of the series. Luckily, there’s a ton of information to pull from made by Tolkien (“The Peoples of Middle-Earth”) to put together an interesting story and game to take place within the Fourth Age. Who or what the main evil present in Middle-Earth is something the developers could decide on, but it would be interesting to know if there were people or races within Middle-Earth that wanted to see a resurgence of Sauron’s evil. Or worst yet, aim to become a greater threat than what he was within this new age.

The Second Age – Before Lord of the Rings

Although much to the dismay of Tolkien fans, the Rings of Power show is set during the Second Age of Middle-Earth before the events that take place in The Lord of the Rings. However, the Amazon-made show was not able to adapt many of the events or characters that appear during that time within Tolkien’s world. Much of this was due to rights issues with various parties that have ownership of different parts of Tolkien’s stories.

But that doesn’t mean Embracer Group couldn’t have something to truly adapt this time in Middle-Earth, and with far better care. The rights issues are still complicated and could still cause hurdles, but Embracer owns much of the rights to create games and other media based on Tolkien stories, which could prove very helpful for doing the Second Age right.

If this is the case, what can be done in the Second Age? Covering the major battles that took place during this timeframe would be a smart move. Much of this age was a catalyst for what came later on during the Third Age, directly leading to what we saw happen in all three Lord of the Rings stories. Big parts of Middle-Earth history such as the rise of Sauron, the fall of Numenor, or the War of the Last Alliance would be events that would be super interesting to play through in some way. Whether that meant seeing events through the heroes’ eyes, or giving us a different perspective and showing us things through the eyes of Sauron as he rises to power in the Second Age.

During this timeframe, we can also get to see other characters that were heavily featured in Lord of the Rings. Heroes and main players such as Elrond, Isildor, and even Celebrimbor could be a significant part of this. The benefit of this is that all of it can be significantly different than what was done in the Rings of Power show. Of course, things would also need to include the creation of the rings of power in some way to connect to everything else, but there is a lot to pull from and use for a new game.

The First Age of Middle-Earth – The Silmarils

But what if we go back even further in the timeline and set things back to the First Age? Major events and occurrences in the history of Middle-Earth can be traced back to this time. A lot of this is centered around the elven race and their clash with the power of Morgoth, an evil being that predates Sauron. If there ever was a part of Tolkien lore that would revitalize everyone’s interest, this would be the era to look into.

Some of the most notable parts of the First Age that could make excellent material for a video game include the stories about the Sons of Feanor and their relentless pursuit of the Silmarils, some of the most important items in Middle-Earth. Much like the rings of power and The One Ring, the Silmarils are powerful objects that are the cause of many tragedies and giant events that impact many within Middle-Earth. The twists and turns of their stories can be adventurous, as much as they can be tragic.

There are many battles and other events that involve these jewels that have yet to be adapted in any media outside of books from Tolkien. Again, much of this has been due to rights issues over the years. But with things changing now, players could finally take the role of major characters during this time in Tolkien’s world. Imagine following the Sons of Feanor or any of the major players through this history and partaking in some of these major battles. The First Age last around 500 years, so there are a lot of events within Middle-Earth to look towards for inspiration. If adapted well, this could be a very interesting side of Tolkien to see that hasn’t been tackled yet.

With all of the news coming out about Lord of the Rings, what are your thoughts about it? What kind of games do you want to see get made that are based on Tolkien? Post your thoughts in the comments and let us know!

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Jakejames Lugo

Jakejames Lugo is a writer and content creator that has been covering video games, movies, and various sides of entertainment for over a decade. He has published reviews and articles on many different outlets and continues to make content for different platforms. Jakejames also makes video content regularly for places like YouTube and TikTok, and share daily posts about gaming on social media.

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